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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29004525">Ender AU-ception (Any Suggestions?)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SortOfABigDeal/pseuds/SortOfABigDeal'>SortOfABigDeal</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Minecraft (Video Game), Sanders Sides (Web Series)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>I don’t know what to add here, I’m new to this</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 11:46:51</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,130</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29004525</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/SortOfABigDeal/pseuds/SortOfABigDeal</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>An alternative take on delimeful’s amazing minecraft sander sides au in which Logan and Roman are monster hunters chasing Patton and Virgil. When Logan is struck by lightning, however, views on both sides start to change...</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Anxiety | Virgil Sanders &amp; Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders &amp; Logic | Logan Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders &amp; Morality | Patton Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders &amp; Logic | Logan Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders &amp; Morality | Patton Sanders, Logic | Logan Sanders &amp; Morality | Patton Sanders</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>21</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Ender AU-ception (Any Suggestions?)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/delimeful/gifts">delimeful</a>.</li>


        <li>
            Inspired by

            <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26825881">Ender</a> by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/delimeful/pseuds/delimeful">delimeful</a>.
        </li>

    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Warnings: swearing, injury, description of injury, referring to a person with it/its pronouns (dehumanization), contemplated (attempted?) murder</p>
<p>I hope y’all enjoy, this is pretty much my first time writing fanfic so-</p>
<p>I really need a good title for this, so if you have any suggestions please comment them!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>          “This,” Logan declared, looking over the crevice that separated them from their quarry: a villager from the East that apparently (unfortunately) was sympathetic to monsters, and his unpredictable enderman companion, “is a horrible idea.”</p>
<p>          “You’re just saying that because you didn’t think of it first.” Roman paused in pulling on his feather-falling boots to elbow his fellow monster hunter smugly. “Plus it’ll be faster, for all we know the enderman teleported across with the target.”</p>
<p>          “Falsehood. It would be much slower and we both know it. I can see the bridge, you just want to explore. If we stick to the path I’ve mapped out we can bypass the incoming storm and avoid losing the whisperer’s tracks-”</p>
<p>          “Alright, alright, alright you may have a point but consider this…” Roman pressed a finger to Logan’s lips, cutting him off mid-lecture. Logan slapped his hand away but stayed silent, preferring to quirk a bemused eyebrow.</p>
<p>          “... I really, really want to.”</p>
<p>          “No.”</p>
<p>          “But whyyyy?” Roman whined, running a hand through his dark hair and eyeing the ravine with longing. “Why did you enchant my boots if you aren’t going to let me jump off cliffs?” </p>
<p>          Logan rolled his eyes, dragging Roman away from the edge and pushing him toward the bridge in the distance. Roman let himself be pushed forward for a few blocks before he started walking on his own, squinting at the darkening sky. </p>
<p>          “I enchanted your boots because you don’t watch where you’re going.” Logan deadpanned, “Not to mention I wanted to practice using the table for something other than sharpening weapons.” </p>
<p> </p>
<p>         ----------------------------</p>
<p> </p>
<p>          Roman, an experienced monster-hunter and a hero in the eyes of many a village, had known his new quest would be complicated as soon as he’d learned the monster whisperer was involved. He’d heard of the man before, word spread quickly and evidently the man had been popular in whatever village he’d originated from. </p>
<p>         That wasn’t the case anymore; from what Roman had heard the man had been constantly taking in stray animals. His neighbors had found it endearing up until bringing home stray animals became bringing home stray other things. The stray enderman had been the final straw. </p>
<p>          Enter Roman, hired to investigate the odd villager for suspected betrayal of his own people. By the time Roman arrived, the man was gone. Whisked away by his monstrous friend to continue plotting the village’s downfall in secret. </p>
<p>          An unlikely story, to be sure, but Roman had no love lost on endermen, and vowed that no matter if the man was an accomplice or a captive he would be returned to his village - and the enderman would be slain. The problem was: endermen didn’t leave tracks. Sure, they could walk around, and often did instead of harnessing their infamous teleportation ability, but it was almost as if they were mere shadows - no footstep left an imprint, no traces to be found. </p>
<p>          Roman, contrary to popular opinion, did not rush into battle without knowing his enemies. In his earlier adventuring days, his quest for information about each mob led him to village after village as he combed through every library for whatever he could find. </p>
<p>           Unfortunately for him, while books about zombies, spiders, and skeletons were common, an adventurer would be hard-pressed to find research about otherworldly monsters - namely Endermen. As passive as the creatures tended to be, most people didn’t want to risk a staring contest. </p>
<p>          Logan was not most people.</p>
<p>          When Roman had finally ended up at Logan’s village, he had immediately been directed to the library by everyone he asked. Logan, the local librarian, rambled to anyone who would listen about the End and the Nether and all the creatures that haunted the two worlds. </p>
<p>          Roman would recognize him, the villager said, by his immaculate clothing; his brown hair neatly swept back away from the thick glasses that framed his dark blue eyes. According to the villagers, his pale complexion was a result of always having his face glued to a book or journal. According to his neighbors, he was reserved, stand-offish, witty, and unequivocally brilliant - especially concerning monsters.</p>
<p>         Roman couldn’t have found a better partner if he tried.</p>
<p>         Logan had been… tolerant... of Roman’s never-ending barrage of questions. He had been less tolerant of Roman’s habit of borrowing books and forgetting to return them. He had been not even remotely tolerant when Roman had started trying to befriend him, and Roman had stormed out of the village beyond offended. No villager he passed had looked surprised. </p>
<p>          They had been surprised, however, when he returned the following day with a bright, contagious smile on his face. Contrary, again, to popular belief, Roman was not stupid. He’d known Logan’s extensive knowledge of the End and its inhabitants would be useful to have on his newest adventure, and he’d also known Logan would jump at the chance to do some in-depth field research. </p>
<p>          ...Alright, maybe not jump, it had actually taken Roman quite a bit of persuasion and definitely no begging whatsoever before Logan had agreed to come along. But that was fine, eventually Roman’s characteristic charm and charisma and promise to absolutely-return-all-the-books-he’d-stolen-pinkie-promise-please-please-please-come… had worn Logan down.</p>
<p>          So here they were.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>         ---------------------------------</p>
<p> </p>
<p>          They hadn’t made it in time. </p>
<p>          Maybe Roman had stalled for too long at the ravine, maybe Logan had misread the map, maybe there had never been enough time to begin with, the reasons didn’t matter: Roman and Logan were caught in the storm. </p>
<p>         Logan frowned up at the sky, wincing as a water droplet hit him square between the eyes, “I’ve never seen a storm like this, have you, Roman?”</p>
<p>          Roman mumbled some noncommittal answer from the back of the temporary shelter he had built for them both, shoving his swords, axe, and all other metal tools into one of the chests he had thrown over the back of Logan’s llama. Who, at Roman’s insistence, was also in the shelter. Logan didn’t even glance back at him, transfixed by the lightning flashing across the sky in the distance.</p>
<p>          “I studied this area’s weather patterns meticulously before we began traversing it, the detour I planned should have steered us out of the storm’s path. I don’t-”</p>
<p>          Logan and Roman (and the llama) jumped as a particularly close clap of thunder shook the earth beneath them. “It’s like it appeared out of nowhere.”</p>
<p>          Roman made to reach for the iron sword on Logan’s back and was swatted by the book Logan had been holding for his efforts. “You should really take the sword off, trust the adventurer when he says <em>‘Logan you can’t even use that thing and we’re in the middle of a hurricane because you can’t read a map now hand over the metal.’</em>” </p>
<p>          Logan waved his hand dismissively, jotting down more observations in his book. <br/><br/>          “One: it is not a hurricane. Rather, I would classify it as an electrical storm. Two: the lightning you are currently seeing is over 15,000 blocks away according to my calculations, and apologies, but everytime I hand you a sword you break it.”</p>
<p>          “Fighting zombies!”</p>
<p>          “Irrelevant, until you take better care of your own equipment, I will certainly not allow you to handle mine.” </p>
<p>          Logan did, however, unclip his sword and let it lean up against the dirt walls of the shelter. Roman laid down to stare at the ceiling, humming a tune to the beat of the thunder and absent-mindedly watching lightning flash outside. A comfortable silence settled over the two hunters.</p>
<p>          The silence didn’t last long.</p>
<p>          “Logan, I’m cold.” Roman said, sitting up and rubbing his hands over his arms to warm himself. Logan sighed exasperatedly, and turned to glare at him over the top of his glasses. </p>
<p>          “I know I enchanted your sword with Fire Aspect for the express purpose of starting fires in situations like these.” </p>
<p>          Roman shrugged, “I do remember you doing that, yes.”</p>
<p>          “So where is it?”</p>
<p>          Roman rubbed the back of his neck with one hand, “Proooobably in a spider’s thorax somewhere…” </p>
<p>          Logan snapped his book shut and sighed for a good two minutes before stopping to breathe. “Unbelievable. We now have no way of starting a fire.” </p>
<p>          Roman groaned and curled forward to rest his head on his knees, sideways so that he could still watch Logan, “Can’t you just enchant something else?”</p>
<p>          “It doesn’t work like that, unfortunately. For one, I would require another fire aspect journal to study, and I only brought one. For another, I would need energy that I don’t have at the moment.”</p>
<p>          Lightning cut its path across the sky and illuminated Logan’s frustrated face for a short second. Roman waited, and eventually heard the corresponding rumble of thunder echo down from above. He paused, eyebrows furrowing; the sight and sound had been only seconds apart when before the separation had lasted minutes. That meant the storm was… closer, right?</p>
<p>          Roman wondered if maybe he should tell Logan. The man’s back was to the outside and he had stopped studying the sky to converse with Roman.</p>
<p>          <em>Nah.</em> Logan could figure it out by himself, he was smart like that. Roman leaned back into the closest wall and wrapped his arms around himself, shivering.</p>
<p>          It was nice to have Logan here, Roman thought. Normally he had to sleep with one eye open to keep watch for mobs or rogues, but he trusted Logan enough to relax. </p>
<p>          Logan watched his hunting partner curl up to wait out the storm, and frowned. Why had he only brought one Fire Aspect book? Of course Roman would use the sword, it was instinct for him at this point. Logan was the one who had been unprepared. </p>
<p>          Logan did not like being unprepared.</p>
<p>          He reached into his bag and pulled out his compass, if he could chart the direction of the storm, and therefore the wind current, he could make sure there would be no more unforeseen weather problems in the future.</p>
<p>          He eyed the sky, then glanced back down again. The storm was moving southward. Logan and Roman were travelling westward. Hopefully, they’d have no more surprise encounters with this particular thunderstorm. But even still… he glanced at Roman once more, it was his fault the adventurer was uncomfortable. He had to do <em>something</em>.</p>
<p>          He poked his head out of his shelter and scanned the immediate vicinity, surely there had to be some way to get warm. The sky lit up, temporarily blinding Logan, and as he rubbed his eyes, attempting to recover, he spotted it. A fire had started nearby, the tree at the center of the blaze split open at its base and toppled over to one side. If Logan could collect a flaming branch or two and run it back to the shelter before the rain extinguished it, they’d have a heat source, however crude it might be. </p>
<p>          Logan looked back at Roman, and then out at the tree. He could do this. He pushed off the wall of the shelter and set off into the storm, his metal compass still clutched in his hand. The sky lit up with lightning as thunder crackled once more. This time, however, there was no pause in between.</p>
<p>          Logan didn’t notice.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>         ----------------------------------</p>
<p> </p>
<p>          Lightning crashed outside, far too loud and much too close. Roman startled awake and immediately reached for his sword before remembering he’d put it in the chest. He turned to ask Logan if he thought the storm would end soon and froze.</p>
<p>          Logan was gone.</p>
<p>          Roman jumped to his feet, suddenly wide awake. </p>
<p>          “What the- Logan, where-!?” </p>
<p>          He let out a relieved sigh as he spotted Logan outside, not far from the shelter. </p>
<p>          … Wait, <em>outside</em>?</p>
<p>          “Logan! What are you doing? Get back here, you crazy nerd.” Roman watched as Logan turned and called to him, but his voice was drowned out by a crash of thunder. </p>
<p>          “<em>What?</em>” Roman took a step forward, hesitant to leave the shelter but becoming increasingly nervous for his partner. Logan, apparently realizing Roman couldn’t hear him, held up an object in response.</p>
<p>          Was that… a compass?</p>
<p>          A <em>metal</em> compass?</p>
<p>          “LOGAN!” Roman shouted, making exaggerated ‘hurry up’ motions with, well, his whole body, really.</p>
<p>          “DROP THE COMPASS AND <em>GET BACK HERE!</em>” </p>
<p>          Logan lowered the arm holding the compass, but didn’t drop it like Roman had hoped he would. His heart sank when he realized Logan probably couldn’t hear him.</p>
<p>          The thunder was far too loud and much too close.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>         ----------------------------------</p>
<p> </p>
<p>          Logan squinted at his adventurer friend from where he stood by the fire. Roman had shouted… something, but all Logan had heard was ‘LOGAN… COMPASS… BACK...’ which wasn’t very helpful, in Logan’s opinion. He looked down at the compass clutched in his hand, meaning to double check the direction of the storm. It was headed north. </p>
<p>          Wait, what?</p>
<p>          Logan could’vesworn the storm had been heading south last he checked, he glanced up at the sky and then back down at the compass and- <em>what?</em> Now the storm was headed west, what was happening? Now that he studied it, the compass wasn’t even pointing north. In fact, the arrow was spinning wildly, twitching from south to west to south again. Logan frowned down at it. The electricity from the storm must be messing with its magnetic function. But the compass had been fine back at the shelter, why would it act up now?</p>
<p>          The hair on the back of Logan’s neck stood up, and he suddenly became violently aware of the crackling air around him. </p>
<p>          <em>Oh. </em></p>
<p>          Logan felt his knees go weak with instinctual fear, and his heart seized with an overwhelming urge to get out of the rain, to get somewhere that wasn't <em>right here, to do something- </em></p>
<p>          Too late.</p>
<p>          Time seemed to slow to a crawl as Logan realized what was about to happen and braced for impact. He saw Roman step out of their shelter toward him, looking as scared as Logan had ever seen him. He saw the compass’ arrow start spinning faster and faster as the electrical current surged closer and closer. Distantly, he recognized the lightning probably wouldn’t kill him, although as he stood there awaiting the pain, he almost hoped it would. He knew <em>exactly</em> what happened when people were struck by lightning. Out of the corner of his vision, he saw a blinding flash of light- why was the thunder so <em>loud?</em></p>
<p>          And then his nerves caught fire, his body went stiff, the smell of burning flesh overwhelmed his nose, his vision went white and then tunneled abruptly into blackness - and he saw nothing more.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>         ----------------------------------</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>          Roman faced countless monsters over his years as a village hero, and it was only natural that a few of these encounters would be close scrapes. He’d once been bitten by a cave spider and had had to fight his way out of a dungeon without any milk to neutralize the poison. He’d once been ambushed by an illager patrol with nothing but his armor and a shield. He’d once successfully fought an enderman, which very few could claim.</p>
<p>          Seeing Logan get struck by lightning, Roman had never been more scared in his life. </p>
<p>          “LOGAN!”</p>
<p>          Roman’s legs were moving, and his hands were grabbing a sword out of the nearest  chest before he even processed the situation. He sprinted across the plain, faster than he’d even ran before. He didn’t feel the rain, didn’t hear the thunder, all his senses narrowed down to Logan and the distance between them.</p>
<p>          When he reached his friend, he skidded to his knees in front of it. Logan’s body was still stiff and trembling with electricity. Besides the twitching muscle contractions, though, there was no other movement. No sign of life. Roman instinctively reached out a hand to do… something, <em>anything</em>, and then abruptly recoiled with horror. All of Logan’s visible skin was burned to differing degrees, and all of it was covered in jagged, branching, white scars. </p>
<p>          <em>Witch. </em></p>
<p>          He’d been turned into a <em>Witch</em>.</p>
<p>          Although horror had stopped Roman from reaching any closer, grief paralyzed him to the spot. He knew, logically, that the friend he loved was dead - had been dead from the moment the lightning struck. </p>
<p>          And yet, he couldn’t bring himself to get up and walk away like he should; like he always had before, with every other monster he’d ever felled. Logan- no, the Witch would awaken soon, and surely wouldn’t hesitate to kill him should he stay.</p>
<p>          Suddenly, Roman was overcome with grief-powered rage, and brought both fists down hard on the ground beside where he was kneeling. Cursing, he tilted his head toward the sky as his face twisted up in a futile attempt to stop the tears, which mixed in with the raindrops. At least, if anyone saw, they wouldn’t be able to tell whether or not he was actually crying.</p>
<p>          Roman still had his reputation to uphold, after all.</p>
<p>          Speaking of… Roman let his head drop back down, staring at the unmoving monster in front of him.<em> It won’t be unmoving for much longer. I shouldn’t risk it leaving it here to wake up, it might hurt someone else. </em></p>
<p>          Right. He needed to kill it. Because it was a monster. He needed to kill it.</p>
<p>          Kill it.</p>
<p>          <em>Kill it. Now. Before it wakes up-</em></p>
<p>          Roman tightened his grip on his sword until his knuckles went white, and with shaking hands, he maneuvered the blade to face downward - above the monster’s heart. He raised the sword up over his head, struggling with the sudden weight of it - had it always been this hard to lift?</p>
<p>          Roman sat there, sword poised to strike, for gods-know-how-long, trying to gather up that monster-slaying energy that had always been there before. He was about to count himself down from 30 when the monster moved.</p>
<p>          It was just a twitch of its facial features, but Roman froze all the same. <em>Oh gods oh gods oh gods oh gods please don’t-</em></p>
<p>          The Witch cracked opened its eyes, blinking blearily upwards - first at Roman, and then, slowly, to the sword pointed toward its chest. </p>
<p>          <em>“Ugh… Ro? What are y’doing?”</em></p>
<p>          Its voice was barely there, raspy, slurred, and fading in and out. Roman could barely hear it. As he watched, dread pooled in his stomach, dread and something else - a heavy feeling he couldn’t place. Whatever it was, it didn’t feel good.</p>
<p>         The Witch’s failing focus was still on Roman’s shaking blade, and Roman could see a faint flicker of recognition and fear spark in its eyes before they closed again. </p>
<p>          <em>“Roman… ? Roman, please…”</em></p>
<p>          Roman allowed the weight of the sword to rest on his head. He didn’t know what the Witch wanted him to do, and he found himself afraid of the answer. The monster’s body sagged as if its strings had been cut. It was no longer stiff or trembling - it had lost consciousness again. Roman frowned.</p>
<p>          <em>Fuck.</em></p>
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